Abstract
Textual and contextual evidence suggests that the French king's fistula, a central plot device in Shakespeare's play All's Well That Ends Well, is a fistula-in-ano. Anal fistula was known to the lay public in Shakespeare's time. In addition, Shakespeare may have known of the anal fistula treatise of John Arderne, an ancestor on Shakespeare's mother's side. Shakespeare's use of anal fistula differs from all previous versions of the story, which first appeared in Boccaccio's Decameron and from its possible historical antecedent, the fistula of Charles V of France. This difference makes sense given the conventions of Elizabethan comedy, which included anal humor. It is also understandable when one looks at what wounds in different locations mean in European legend. In this light, it is not surprising that subsequent expurgations treat Boccaccio's and Shakespeare's fistulas differently, censoring only Shakespeare's. This reading has implications for the staging of All's Well That Ends Well, and for our view of the place of anal fistulas in cultural history.
Published Version
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